Hiruzen Sarutobi snorted. "Orochimaru, you..."
"Enough, Teacher Sarutobi! Spare me the lecture!" Orochimaru pointed to the Wood Release Cell carriers of all ages inside the Laboratory.
He said coldly, "Konoha and the title of Hokage are no longer goals of mine. If I wanted, Kusagakure could become the next Konoha at any time."
"I simply wanted to tell you this: you're incompetent! Mu!"
"..." Hiruzen Sarutobi opened his mouth. He wanted to argue, but he had no idea what to say.
Was he supposed to say, You don't understand me. I'm exhausted too?
He knew better.
A cold-blooded man like Orochimaru would never fall for that.
"Uh, well..."
Minato Namikaze spoke up, breaking their standoff.
"Senior Orochimaru, I'd like to go back to Konoha and see Naruto. His birthday is coming up. I've missed eight of them, and this time, I want to give him a birthday with his dad. Would that be all right?"
"..."
"..."
Minato Namikaze had not expected this.
The moment he finished speaking, everyone from Konoha in the Laboratory turned to look at him.
They stared at him with unreadable expressions.
The atmosphere turned painfully awkward.
Orochimaru hesitated, then shook his head with a smile. "Let's put that aside for now. Whether you can return to Konoha depends on what Shinji says. Besides, the village should be preparing the old man's funeral right now. This isn't a good time for you to go back, is it?"
"Huh?"
Minato Namikaze glanced around. His gaze paused on Kakashi, who avoided his eyes and seemed desperate to find a hole to crawl into.
Minato smiled easily. "All right, then."
"Speaking of which, I have a question." Orochimaru rested his chin on one hand and looked Minato up and down. "How was the Fourth Hokage brought back with Impure